Love from Salt Spring
15 September 2018 | Salt Spring Island
Jane fall is beginning
How time flies by. Face Book keeps reminding me how different my life was this time last year, and even more so the year before. So I am not surprised it has taken me since December to update our blog for which I apologise.
We started the year trying to come to grips with how cold winter is when not sailing in the Pacific. Our home is poorly insulated (among other interesting quirks) and however much wood we burnt most of the heat went staight up the chimney. Our hydro bill was wild. Russell bless his heart managed to organise my Christmas present of a beautiful Hot Tub in December, so you can imagine where I spent a lot of my time.
Luckily come February we were up in Sun Peaks for a months ski-ing. Our friends there, who do not ski, wanted to do a house swap and we gladly agreed. It was wonderful to be back up in the mountains and we had excellent conditions. Edwin and friends, Adrian from Vancouver, and my brother from England all came to stay and we had a ton of fun together. We managed to reconnect with lots of old friends from our racing season and had a fantastic month.
Spring soon came to Salt Spring Island, a season we have not seen for many years and it was glorious. Watching everything start to bloom, planting a little vegetable garden, clearing our wooded area and sorting pots for our deck kept us busy. We also began to work on plans for our new home; which has kept Russell out of trouble (well kind of).
My job was to look for a new boat. We knew what we wanted, but looked at a few other boats to make sure we were on the right track. Eventually; with an introduction from a friend, we found a 42 foot Grand Banks Classic trawler locally. Luckily the owner liked us and agreed to sell her at a price that was within our budget. It is obvious that she has been very loved as she is in excellent condition and beautiful. We already love her dearly and are renaming her “Madrona” after all the Arbutus trees and the Bay close to us on Salt Spring Island. Sadly there are 125 boats with her old name, so we decided a new name was needed for safety.
The spring saw many friends visiting and the months went quickly until the end of May when I was forced to slow down. I somehow, whilst getting fit, herniated my disc. It knocked me sideways and I have only been able to walk, without the fear of tripping over my slightly dropped foot, for the last two weeks. The Doctor today has confirmed (phew) that I can start yoga again, and with physio and training help I hope to be back to ski-ing next year. I was able to keep myself fairly busy however as we decided to offer up our suite for AirBnb for a few months. We have had some delightful guests and the extra $$s will certainly come in useful.
Once back on my feet, with the boat sitting ready for us on our newly planked dock, we set off for ten days cruising. We have had fabulous weather since the start of summer and as we set off we had a perfect trip up to Tug Boat island where we met numerous boating friends of ours. Happy days to rediscover one of our favourite islands, play Bocci over drinks with friends, social dinners and slowly getting to know Madrona. We had an excellent trip across the strait to Jerricho Marina in Vancouver to see the kids, and found Madrona to be quick and great in rough seas. However, the 600 fires around BC were taking their toll and the smoke was effecting everywhere, even the Gulf Islands. We stayed out for another few nights, but eventually gave up and headed for home through the haze.
It has been a difficult year in many ways. Sadly we have many friends battling cancer with our best man Foxy dying last month. It was very sudden as he had been ski-ing only a week before. He was very active, a special guy and we are still in shock. Several friends have also had other serious health issues, reinforcing how important it is to seize the day; which we always try to do.
Amy and Edwin are both well and we have been able to spend lots of time with them and their partners. Amy moved into a new flat with Luke in May. It is near Commercial and is delightful. She has been promoted several times by her company and is now their copywriter and involved in production. She just got back from a business trip to Shangai. Edwin and Iva live at 25 and Cambie and are both very busy with their jobs. Iva is into accounting and is doing her CPA and Edwin is working management for Aquabus. He has just been away on a 3.5 week photo shot for Cardrona ski resort in New Zealand. His two passions are boarding and photography.
September is going to be a month of memories. We have 23 relatives visiting us from all over the world to help celebrate Russell’s 70th and Amy and Edwin’s 30th birthdays on 29 September. The first have arrived and will be with us for a month. What fun we will have, what memories we will make. The next blog will probably be full of photos, beware. In the meantime I will post this so you are up to date with our lives. Love to hear from all of you near and far, just keep those emails coming. Much love from both of us on Salt Spring Island.